This invention relates to a cooking or heating apparatus, and, more particularly, to an improved oven and method for heating food or other products while they are being conveyed through the oven within a preselected time.
In recent years, tunnel ovens have been developed for use in the fast food and industrial cooking field, such as disclosed in Wells U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,996 and Wells U.S. patent application Ser. No. 956,869. Ovens of this type cook by infrared emission from hearth and roof panels within the tunnel such as disclosed in Wells U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,859, for example.
Infrared ovens of this type are used for cooking steaks, chops, and other meats by conveying them through the oven in a pan. This avoids dropping grease onto the heating elements thereby preventing the combustion of the grease and grease vapors. Further, using infrared emissions avoids the use of heated air for cooking thereby preserving the moisture of food products since heated air tends to dry out food.
A further development in infrared tunnel ovens is seen in Wells et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,366,177 and 4,473,004. These ovens are used to cook meats, chops, and other greasy food products by infrared heating, but in an oxygen-starved atmosphere which substantially precludes the flaming and flaring of grease, or grease vapors and the resultant exposure of the food products to direct flame. The oven and method of cooking eliminates the use of the pan necessitated by the design of the earlier Wells ovens.
A further Wells patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,307, allows for cooking food in an oxygen-starved atmosphere by infrared radiation but also allows for controlled flaming of grease from the food.
Another conveyor type cooking apparatus is disclosed in Baker U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,164. This patent discloses a hamburger cooking machine which includes upper and lower cooking elements and a conveyor running between them on which hamburgers are placed for cooking. The hamburgers are cooked using direct infrared energy radiating from the cooking elements. The oven also includes a second conveyor for warming hamburger buns.